Member to receive special credit on bills

(Issued February 7, 2011)
Adams Electric is passing along to its members a $793,000 special credit that the co-op received at the end of 2010 from Allegheny Electric Cooperative, its generation and transmission supplier. The credit appears on the bills Adams Electric members receive in February. Members with active accounts as of February 1 were eligible for the credit, the amount of which was based on each member’s use of electricity in 2010.

In November and December of last year, Allegheny Electric experienced below budget wholesale power costs and passed along the savings to its 14 electric cooperative owners in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including Adams Electric.

“Since Adams Electric is already in great financial shape, and electricity use by consumers has been high this past winter, the Adams Electric board decided to pass along the savings to our members,” says Steve Rasmussen, Adams Electric CEO/general manager. “The board wanted to get the money back into members’ hands when they could use it most.”

This past January was a cold month which always forces electric bills higher, according to Rasmussen. This credit is another sign that cooperative membership has additional benefits than other methods of buying electricity, he adds.

The co-op’s nine-member board took action at a regular monthly meeting held on January 28 at the co-op’s Gettysburg headquarters to approve the bill credit.